Collective Redundancy – Woolies verdict

A recent European Court of Justice judgement, regarding the former high street stalwart Woolies, has outlined the rules regarding collective redundancy consultation.

After the firm went into administration in 2008, all staff were made redundant and all 815 stores closed. Four years later, 24,000 former staff of Woolworths were awarded 60 days’ pay as compensation because the stores had been closed without consultation.

However an additional 3,200 staff have missed out on the extra compensation because they worked in stores with less than 20 staff.

The message for employers is that collective redundancy goes on a store by store basis rather than nationwide as was previously thought.